SAD

Seattle hasn’t officially had a sunny day since Thanksgiving.  How shocking is that?!  There were apparently 2 “partly sunny” days in December, but those days still had 70% average cloud cover.  Every day in January so far has been considered cloudy (at least 80% cloud cover) , with 8 days having 100% cloud cover.  Perhaps this explains why I’m in such a foul mood – SAD (seasonal affective disorder).  Or at least is one of many contributing factors.  Another small one that irritated me today was that there was a Chinese New Year celebration lunch at work.  It was slated to start at 11.30 – which is way too early, I normally have my lunch after 1.  But I still showed up at about 11.45, and all the food had already gone.  If you’re going to cater a lunch for the entire office, then you’d better make sure there is enough food to go around.  Annoying.  I didn’t even bother hanging around for a chance to win a gift card, which you apparently had to be present for – not that I would have won, and not that anyone offered me a seat at their table.  Nice of my colleagues to ask me to join them when they went to get some food – but then the Chinese prefer to stick to their own, because it means they don’t have to speak English which they reluctantly and barely do if I’m present.  It’s one of the reasons I don’t bother with our office Christmas party most years.  It’s ironic that one of my company’s core goals is inclusion – yet I feel I work in one of the least inclusive departments in the company.  I said as much when responding to an anonymous questionnaire that got sent out to all our department recently.  It will be interesting to see whether they address it, or even mention it, when they discuss the results.  I doubt it – when you’re in a group that is 90% Chinese, you don’t want to upset the apple cart.